Sept 3 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
* A new report is questioning the merits of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's increasing use of "active" investments to boost returns. In a Fraser Institute report to be released Wednesday, former Statistics Canada chief economic analyst Philip Cross and Fraser Institute fellow Joel Emes express concern that these new investments come with much higher costs that should be more clearly explained. (bit.ly/1ul5OCD)
* Canada has reached a compromise with North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies in which member states will commit to trying to increase defence spending to 2 percent of their annual economic output, rather than embracing a hard target for boosting military expenditures. (bit.ly/1lyAY9d)
Reports in the business section:
* Allen Chan, the Hong Kong-based businessman at the centre of the Ontario Securities Commission's (OSC) fraud allegations against Sino-Forest Corp, maintains he has done nothing dishonest, his lawyer told a packed hearing room on Tuesday. Chan - the company's former chairman and chief executive - along with four other former Sino-Forest executives, face OSC allegations they committed fraud and misled investors in the company, which once had a market capitalization of C$6 billion and a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange. (bit.ly/1qnD4J3)
NATIONAL POST
* With a 42 percent share of the voting public, John Tory has emerged as the clear front-runner in the Toronto mayoral race as Olivia Chow languishes in third place, according to the results of a new poll. The Nanos Research poll shows Chow has the support of only 26 percent of the electorate, just behind the 28 percent held by sitting Mayor Rob Ford. (bit.ly/1qatedN)
* Toronto mayoral candidate Olivia Chow will raise money for more student nutrition programs and bus service by increasing the land transfer tax for houses over C$2-million - a scheme she said is aimed at making taxes more progressive. (bit.ly/1Cp96cO)
FINANCIAL POST
* Propel Capital Corp, which brought eight funds to markets, raising about C$400 million from mostly retail clients, was acquired by Montreal-based Fiera Capital Corp. The publicly listed buyer will pay about C$12 million for the right to manage the funds. At C$12 million the purchase price - which will be paid mostly in cash but also in stock, works out to be about 3 percent of assets under management. (bit.ly/1sZ4FyS)
* Canada's broadcast regulator has approved an application for a broadcast license by an extreme sports specialty channel, EDGEsport headed by the former chief executive of media conglomerate CanWest Global Communications. (bit.ly/1nVCZrn) (Compiled by Rishika Sadam in Bangalore)
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